Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know — Ernest Hemingway

January 30, 2011

Interesting that the e-book may surpass the paperback. Our electronic changes, our transfers and communications and updating at a record speed. Technologies go out of fashion and are not just updated but supplanted in a matter of months... not even years let alone decades.

January 29, 2011

This speech became known as the Enemies From Within speech. Whether the likes of McCarthy and J.Edgar Hoover were actually patriots and true believers, or just the vanguard to take back the reigns of power from the Democratic Party and deliver it back to Corporate Powers that lost it in 1932 is a blurry mess for historians to study. Neither men was virtuous and if they succeeded completely in their day, what would the world and America's place in it be like today...

On the other hand...The Korean War was about to start... what would America do?

"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight as we celebrate the one hundred forty-first birthday of one of the greatest men in American history, I would like to be able to talk about what a glorious day today is in the history of the world. As we celebrate the birth of this man who with his whole heart and soul hated war, I would like to be able to speak of peace in our time—of war being outlawed—and of world-wide disarmament. These would be truly appropriate things to be able to mention as we celebrate the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.

Five years after a world war has been won, men’s hearts should anticipate a long peace—and men’s minds should be free from the heavy weight that comes with war. But this is not such a period—for this is not a period of peace. This is a time of “the cold war.” This is a time when all the world is split into two vast, increasingly hostile armed camps—a time of a great armament race.

Today we can almost physically hear the mutterings and rumblings of an invigorated god of war. You can see it, feel it, and hear it all the way from the Indochina hills, from the shores of Formosa, right over into the very heart of Europe itself.

The one encouraging thing is that the “mad moment” has not yet arrived for the firing of the gun or the exploding of the bomb which will set civilization about the final task of destroying itself. There is still a hope for peace if we finally decide that no longer can we safely blind our eyes and close our ears to those facts which are shaping up more and more clearly . . . and that is that we are now engaged in a show-down fight . . . not the usual war between nations for land areas or other material gains, but a war between two diametrically opposed ideologies.

The great difference between our western Christian world and the atheistic Communist world is not political, gentlemen, it is moral. For instance, the Marxian idea of confiscating the land and factories and running the entire economy as a single enterprise is momentous. Likewise, Lenin’s invention of the one-party police state as a way to make Marx’s idea work is hardly less momentous.

Stalin’s resolute putting across of these two ideas, of course, did much to divide the world. With only these differences, however, the east and the west could most certainly still live in peace.

The real, basic difference, however, lies in the religion of immoralism . . . invented by Marx, preached feverishly by Lenin, and carried to unimaginable extremes by Stalin. This religion of immoralism, if the Red half of the world triumphs—and well it may, gentlemen—this religion of immoralism will more deeply wound and damage mankind than any conceivable economic or political system.

Karl Marx dismissed God as a hoax, and Lenin and Stalin have added in clear-cut, unmistakable language their resolve that no nation, no people who believe in a god, can exist side by side with their communistic state.

Karl Marx, for example, expelled people from his Communist Party for mentioning such things as love, justice, humanity or morality. He called this “soulful ravings” and “sloppy sentimentality.” . . .

Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity. The modern champions of communism have selected this as the time, and ladies and gentlemen, the chips are down—they are truly down.

Lest there be any doubt that the time has been chosen, let us go directly to the leader of communism today—Joseph Stalin. Here is what he said—not back in 1928, not before the war, not during the war—but 2 years after the last war was ended: “To think that the Communist revolution can be carried out peacefully, within the framework of a Christian democracy, means one has either gone out of one’s mind and lost all normal understanding, or has grossly and openly repudiated the Communist revolution.” . . .

Ladies and gentlemen, can there be anyone tonight who is so blind as to say that the war is not on? Can there by anyone who fails to realize that the Communist world has said the time is now? . . . that this is the time for the show-down between the democratic Christian world and the communistic atheistic world?

Unless we face this fact, we shall pay the price that must be paid by those who wait too long.

Six years ago, . . . there was within the Soviet orbit, 180,000,000 people. Lined up on the antitotalitarian side there were in the world at that time, roughly 1,625,000,000 people. Today, only six years later, there are 800,000,000 people under the absolute domination of Soviet Russia—an increase of over 400 percent. On our side, the figure has shrunk to around 500,000,000. In other words, in less than six years, the odds have changed from 9 to 1 in our favor to 8 to 5 against us.

This indicates the swiftness of the tempo of Communist victories and American defeats in the cold war. As one of our outstanding historical figures once said, “When a great democracy is destroyed, it will not be from enemies from without, but rather because of enemies from within.” . . .

The reason why we find ourselves in a position of impotency is not because our only powerful potential enemy has sent men to invade our shores . . . but rather because of the traitorous actions of those who have been treated so well by this Nation. It has not been the less fortunate, or members of minority groups who have been traitorous to this Nation, but rather those who have had all the benefits that the wealthiest Nation on earth has had to offer . . . the finest homes, the finest college education and the finest jobs in government we can give.

This is glaringly true in the State Department. There the bright young men who are born with silver spoons in their mouths are the ones who have been most traitorous. . . .

I have here in my hand a list of 205 . . . a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department. . . .

As you know, very recently the Secretary of State proclaimed his loyalty to a man guilty of what has always been considered as the most abominable of all crimes—being a traitor to the people who gave him a position of great trust—high treason. . . .

He has lighted the spark which is resulting in a moral uprising and will end only when the whole sorry mess of twisted, warped thinkers are swept from the national scene so that we may have a new birth of honesty and decency in government. "﻿

An interview recently surfaced that was conducted in 1998 by the Ayn Rand Institute with a social worker who says she helped Rand and her husband, Frank O’Connor, sign up for Social Security and Medicare in 1974.

Federal records obtained through a Freedom of Information act request confirm the Social Security benefits. A similar FOI request was unable to either prove or disprove the Medicare claim..."

What a sad story... pathetic, really. I am just glad we live in a society that would offer help to the elderly, even when that person has done nothing to deserve it. Well, so much for Objectivism.

If JD Salinger can go to Burger King, then I don’t want to hear any crap about the unhealthy effects of the Whopper. The man lived to be 91. I know the article is trying to tell us that J.D. Salinger was a regular guy who went outside and ate burgers... he ate fast food burgers!

Even the thought of me eating a Whooper makes my friends and family hang their heads in shame. The Lipitor Mafia comprised of my elderly aunts and older sisters run a black market blood pressure medicine ring; dealing in my old neighborhood. They are not concerned with exercise or reducing the sodium content in their fried meals. They want to eat whatever they want and the medicine makes that possible.

Me telling my sister I had slightly high blood pressure was treated back home with congratulatory phone calls, Facebook postings and even Twitter Tweets.

Every member of my extended family is on blood pressure medicine, including the kids.

The illegal sample Lipitor packets are on their way with a care package of soft pretzels, Tasty Kakes and a three foot circle of pepperoni. All I have to do is take a pill, do a half-hour on the Wii Fit and only drink decaf after 9pm… oh and don’t eat fast food anymore.

My problem is I love fast food . The golden arches make me salivate when I see them approaching. And Wendy’s or Roy Rogers, the classier fine-dining establishments… I love the hierarchy of fast food.

But Wendy’s are hard to come by in the middle of the night when you're driving and tired and just have to have some fries and a burger you can eat with one hand and you are not going to wait for an Arby’s to show up in your headlights.

Popeye’s Chicken!

The first bite of Quarter Pounder is the best. The sugary bun and the sour pickle… too much mustard and ketchup… the onion bits… a fist full of fries.

Now, I can either admit my age, exercise and eat more fruits, vegetables and fish... or take the medicine and have onion rings AND fries with my burger... and keep your apple slices... they are for the phonies.

I doubt anything will happen to the people who wrecked the economy in a time of war, but if Obama's election meant anything, it meant that justice would be served once again in America... and that is not happening... so I guess the election of President Obama meant...

It is even more than an unwillingness to fight... it is collusion with the enemy.

January 26, 2011

In his tirelessly psychotic attempt to gain Republican Party support and votes, President Obama gave the worst Democratic Presidential SOTU in history.

He garnered no more Republican support, nor votes, but did alienated what is left of his crumbling Democratic coalition.

The only re-election strategy left to him is to support Michelle Bachmann or Sarah Palin or one of the other Tea Bagging-Republican Party crazy people so Americans will be forced to vote for him again.

January 24, 2011

My prediction for Presdient Obama's SOTU address is that he will open and close his mouth for about one hour and say nothing... no sound will come out... silence... at least from my point of view.

I can't think of anything left for him to say to me, anyway. I hope I am wrong, but actions speak louder than words and at this point his actions have made me turn my back. I am not waiting for his speech this time.

January 22, 2011

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka spoke to the National Press Club on January 19, 2011.

Trumka goes to the wall for President Obama again and again... but I don't think the President understands Trumka. Obama feels more comfortable around big business...

And we know the Republicans hate Trumka...

...but as a Party, the Democrats better listen to this speech and act on it in the next election. 2010 was a disaster for American history... some parts of the world shake their heads... some turn away in embarrassment... and others smile and lick their lips.

What made America great last century is what can save America this century... but we are extinguishing our own lights and The City Upon The Hill is growing dark. No foreign enemy has done this to America. The Republican Party and Corporate America, including the media has done more damage than all our foreign enemies combined.

It's the latest in a series of steps to woo business that the president has taken since he led his Democratic Party to sweeping losses in last November's elections, losses that were fueled in part by anti-Democrat ads financed by business groups.

His post-election courting of business has included:

• A new order to make sure that federal regulators consider how their actions will cost business.

• Hiring a new chief of staff, William Daley, a Chicago political operative and former JPMorgan executive who's familiar with and popular with CEOs.

• Hiring Bruce Reed as the new chief of staff for Vice President Joe Biden. Reed's a former CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist group that unions have criticized as too pro-business and that Obama himself had shunned in the past.

• A new tax cut for business investment along with an extension of tax reductions for those with the highest incomes.

Like those other steps -- all taken since November's elections -- this one drew quick, albeit cautious, praise from business."

January 21, 2011

The John F Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston has begun chronicling the former US president's 1,000 days in office on the micro-blogging website Twitter.

The account @Kennedy1961 began posting tweets on Thursday about the former president's actions and words as they unfolded 50 years ago.

I wonder how far they are going to go with this... will we get tweets from The Warren Commission after the assassination?

I would think following the Lee Harvey Oswald time-line during the Kennedy Administration would be helpful, too.

For example, that curtain rod' carrying son-of-a-bitch was in Minsk when Kennedy gave his Inaugural Address.

Our little, home grown, lone-gunman, ex-Marine was getting home sick after defecting to the Soviet Union and he began taking the steps that would bring him back into the United States.. no questions asked... and on a collision course in Dallas, Texas.

"In the Wisconsin primary campaign—the critical first test—the senator from Massachusetts faced Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey, a hero of liberals going back to the 1948 Democratic National Convention speech in which he declared: "The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights."

As his friend, ally and aide Harris Wofford recalled, "[Shriver] badly wanted Kennedy’s nomination to come through liberal support, not through an alliance with Southern conservatives.” While the young senator was being pulled to the right by many of his allies, “Shriver hoped Kennedy would find himself responding to a convention and a campaign in which the liberal wing gave him decisive support.”

To achieve this end, Shriver came to Madison as his brother-in-law Jack’s campaign’s coordinator in the critical 2nd Congressional district. Well aware that Humphrey was a favorite in the region—especially with the liberal community that clustered around the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison—Shriver set out to build Kennedy’s credibility as a liberal."

People like Shriver and Harris Wofford were the true promise of JFK's Camelot. They were trying to forge a new America during the second half of the 20th century. They blazed a parth and made a lot of gains and left a wonderful legacy, but America didn't continue to follow.

January 20, 2011

50 years ago today, John Kennedy took the oath of office of President of The United States.

He tried very hard to put America on a safe and sure coarse. The forces of evil that eventually took over America moved in decisively. He was assassinated before his first term ended. America never recovered.

“I believe that if Dr. King were alive today, he would recognize that we live in a complicated world, and that our nation's military should not and cannot lay down its arms and leave the American people vulnerable to terrorist attack,” he said."

I have welcomed this opportunity to address this historic body, and, through you, the people of Massachusetts to whom I am so deeply indebted for a lifetime of friendship and trust.

For fourteen years I have placed my confidence in the citizens of Massachusetts--and they have generously responded by placing their confidence in me.

Now, on the Friday after next, I am to assume new and broader responsibilities. But I am not here to bid farewell to Massachusetts.

For forty-three years--whether I was in London, Washington, the South Pacific, or elsewhere--this has been my home; and, God willing, wherever I serve this shall remain my home.

It was here my grandparents were born--it is here I hope my grandchildren will be born.

I speak neither from false provincial pride nor artful political flattery. For no man about to enter high office in this country can ever be unmindful of the contribution this state has made to our national greatness.

Its leaders have shaped our destiny long before the great republic was born. Its principles have guided our footsteps in times of crisis as well as in times of calm. Its democratic institutions--including this historic body--have served as beacon lights for other nations as well as our sister states.

For what Pericles said to the Athenians has long been true of this commonwealth: "We do not imitate--for we are a model to others."

And so it is that I carry with me from this state to that high and lonely office to which I now succeed more than fond memories of firm friendships. The enduring qualities of Massachusetts--the common threads woven by the Pilgrim and the Puritan, the fisherman and the farmer, the Yankee and the immigrant--will not be and could not be forgotten in this nation's executive mansion.

They are an indelible part of my life, my convictions, my view of the past, and my hopes for the future.

Allow me to illustrate: During the last sixty days, I have been at the task of constructing an administration. It has been a long and deliberate process. Some have counseled greater speed. Others have counseled more expedient tests.

But I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arbella three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier.

"We must always consider," he said, "that we shall be as a city upon a hill--the eyes of all people are upon us."

Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us--and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill--constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities

For we are setting out upon a voyage in 1961 no less hazardous than that undertaken by the Arabella in 1630. We are committing ourselves to tasks of statecraft no less awesome than that of governing the Massachusetts Bay Colony, beset as it was then by terror without and disorder within.

History will not judge our endeavors--and a government cannot be selected--merely on the basis of color or creed or even party affiliation. Neither will competence and loyalty and stature, while essential to the utmost, suffice in times such as these.

For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each one of us--recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state--our success or failure, in whatever office we may hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions:

First, were we truly men of courage--with the courage to stand up to one's enemies--and the courage to stand up, when necessary, to one's associates--the courage to resist public pressure, as well as private greed?

Secondly, were we truly men of judgment--with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past--of our own mistakes as well as the mistakes of others--with enough wisdom to know that we did not know, and enough candor to admit it?

Third, were we truly men of integrity--men who never ran out on either the principles in which they believed or the people who believed in them--men who believed in us--men whom neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust?

Finally, were we truly men of dedication--with an honor mortgaged to no single individual or group, and compromised by no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the national interest.

Courage--judgment--integrity--dedication--these are the historic qualities of the Bay Colony and the Bay State--the qualities which this state has consistently sent to this chamber on Beacon Hill here in Boston and to Capitol Hill back in Washington.

And these are the qualities which, with God's help, this son of Massachusetts hopes will characterize our government's conduct in the four stormy years that lie ahead.

Humbly I ask His help in that undertaking--but aware that on earth His will is worked by men. I ask for your help and your prayers, as I embark on this new and solemn journey.

Is Sarah Palin being brought by the FBI to Washington, DC today to explain her reload rhetoric?

Is the Twitter accounts of Angle and all of FOX News being subpoenaed to see if there is any connections to right-wing hate groups?

America needs to see Ann Coulter and Sarah Palin and Roger Ailes, under oath, being questioned about whether or not they believe Representative Garbrielle Giffords deserved to be shot because of her votes in Congress?

And what about the Americans who came to assemble, freely and peaceably to meet their Congressional Representative? Is Judge Roll and Christina Taylor Greene collateral damage in the right-wing's Second Amendment remedies to take back America?

It is mercilessly beyond irony that a 9 year old '9/11 - Face of Hope' was gunned down in Arizona yesterday. It is the State of The Union today.

This is a Republican Party issue. This is an American media issue. This is their doing.

A Democratic President and a Democratic Senate needs to do something about it immediately.

The American people have to wait, peaceably, until 2012 to make its amends.

"As a trade organization with members that must comply with the regulatory state, I ask for your assistance in identifying existing and proposed regulations that have negatively impacted job growth in your members' industry," Issa wrote in a Dec. 8 letter to the National Association of Manufacturers obtained by Politico. "Additionally, suggestions on reforming identified regulations and the rulemaking process would be appreciated."

Those around the world who really do not have the right to vote and live under governmnet repression... must be shaking their heads in wonder at our foolishness.

John Wheeler III, 66, who had not been reported missing, was scheduled to be on an Amtrak train from Washington to Wilmington on Dec. 28, but authorities say it's not clear if he ever made that trip. His body was found three days later, on New Year's Eve, as a garbage truck emptied its contents at the Cherry Island landfill. His death has been ruled a homicide.

Wheeler served as an Army staff officer in Vietnam and later worked in the Reagan and both Bush administrations.

January 02, 2011

Is Justin Bieber a traitor to the Republic... well, I think he's Canadian, but... remember what the right wing and their media did to the Dixie Chicks. The most famous band in America was silenced in a weekend for hating America.

Apparently some right wingers fell for a fake/joke interview with pop star Justin Bieber in which he expresses support of the mosque being built near Ground Zero in New York City and claims Christians are 'lame-o-rama'...

January 01, 2011

Starting January 1, 2011 another layer of Indonesian, Kenyan Socialist Health Care kicks-in... and we are all going to love this, especially those of us with mothers, fathers, grand mothers and grand fathers... regardless of Party affiliation... or Americans reaching retirement age... and that is a lot of people.